Article:
John S. Elson, Suing to Make Schools Effective, or How to Make a Bad Situation Worse: A Response to Ratner, 63 Texas L. Rev. 889 (1985).
 

Abstract:
In this article, Professor Elson responds to Professor Gershon Ratner’s article, “A New Legal Duty for Urban Public Schools.” Ratner’s article proposes that courts apply a legal duty on urban public schools to successfully teach basic skills to the vast majority of its students. According to Elson, the empirical data used by Ratner to support the creation of this legal duty is unpersuasive and too imprecise to provide judicially manageable standards. Elson concludes that, in light of contemporary research, suits to make ineffective schools effective are not the proper subjects of judicial decision-making and enforcement procedures.